


Not Quite There

by GirlWhoWrites



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon)
Genre: Clintasha Week, Friendship, Gen, It's totally a boys club, Maybe shippy if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-27 01:05:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1709381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GirlWhoWrites/pseuds/GirlWhoWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She has no idea why she agreed to this again.</p>
<p>The first time they came together as a team, it had been disastrous. Too many egos, too many resentments and suspicions, and they had finally gone their separate ways, seething and - in their own minds - justified.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Quite There

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Clintasha Week on Tumblr (I'm lexiewrites) back in December. Finally edited. I loathe the title but I cannot come up with something better.
> 
> I kind of love Avengers Assemble, I just wish Natasha got more screen time - and some more backstory. And I'm busting to know why they (the Avengers) broke up the first time. So many questions!

Sometimes she sits back and wonder what the hell she was thinking.

She has no idea why she agreed to this again.

The first time they came together as a team, it had been disastrous. Too many egos, too many resentments and suspicions, and they had finally gone their separate ways, seething and - in their own minds - justified.

The fact that she was - and is - still a member of SHIELD was always a bone of contention, an exposed nerve that they constantly returned to, and worried at. That no matter what they decided together, that they stood united and independent from SHIELD for all that is good, just and right, she was still holding them in place of a higher authority. No matter how many times she told them that Fury wasn’t stupid - he was going to use his power over her, and them, as sparingly as possible, to preserve that asset, they never believed her.

Nothing burned at her, fuelled her anger, more than Clint taking their side. As if it wasn’t enough of a boys’ club, she was left out in the cold. And it wouldn’t have bothered her, if he hadn’t discarded her truths for brighter, shinier lights. As if they hadn’t know each other for years, fought at each others’ backs for just as long.

Why did she go back? They had the manpower, and Fury was never going to shut it down. He made it no secret that he wanted the Avengers back - they took care of things that no branch of the US military really knew how to. And generally, the damage they did was significantly less than whatever the super villain of the week had planned. Plus, they were less mouthy than the Xmen, less ego-centric than the Fantastic Four and more reliable than Spiderman.

She went back because they were her friends, once.

She stayed because of Clint.

Because she gets it. You have to find a place where you’re safe, where you can just be you. Where you can get what you need, whether that’s a place where you can put your skills to good use, for the protection and betterment of people, or a place where there’s a nearly unlimited supply of pizza bagels and video games.

Whatever they have, this bond forged through years of fights, of bickering, of winning and losing, is more than friendship. But it hasn’t quite reached wherever it’s going. And honestly, she’s not ready to cut that one last string, to rebalance the scales and throw her lot in with her goofy, snarky, snack-obsessed archer.

At least, not yet.


End file.
